Posts Tagged ‘machine’

How many times have we heard these words, most often uttered by someone trying and justify the unjustifiable, like sacrificing liberty for the illusion of security, or giving away inch after inch of precious power for the sake of the nation’s interests – not to be confused with our own interests.

If you’re like me, then you’re sick of hearing this wartime pretense being used to co-opt both common sense and human rights alike.

We are at war… with who? Your only enemies are the ones you keep creating through your actions. Preemptive war only proliferates ideas of hate, and you can’t kill an idea no matter how hard you fight.

This is a war… no it isn’t! If you truly want to strike a critical blow against terror, stop terrorizing people. Quit believing that you are in a war. Withdraw from that mindset… then withdraw from the battlefields.

Awaken to our new world. It’s no longer about fighting religions, countries or cultures. The threats we do face, we face as a species. Cooperation, not infighting, is the way forward.

A similar CIA ‘interrogation’ program, unmasked in 2009, was being held at an exclusive horseback riding academy in Lithuania. Inmates, suspected of harboring violent intent against the United States, were subjected to various forms of torture including “sleep deprivation, forced standing, painful stress positions.”

Just to be clear, these clandestine prisons have zero public oversight. Most Americans have no knowledge of said places, nor would they authorize such atrocities were it up to them. (more…)

Canadian’s are facing austerity cuts across the board – wage freezes, slashed funding, and major reforms to pensions – yet the Conservatives seem hellbent on acquiring some fancy new planes for $9 billion. Or is it $10 billion now, or more?

Where are their priorities? With the pressing needs of Canadians, or with getting their kickbacks from the Defense Industry?

“Doc, save his life.” chuckled an American soldier, standing over the dead and dying bodies of (reportedly) Iraqi militants, “Got a band-aid?” Disgusting. Not a single trace of honor in their behavior, which, incidentally, is a clear violation of the Geneva convention.

First up is a whimsical cartoon depicting what many of us have come to know: that underneath the overbearing exterior of power tripping authority figures resides a scared little child desperately trying to protect itself.

Second is a piece decrying the hypocrisy in American politics. This cartoon could be equally applicable to the Canadian Conservatives, except instead of a tank there’d be Harper flying an F-35 to a mega-prison while cutting social services.

“No amount of troops, training or money will result in a stable Afghanistan. It is time to bring the troops home now,” writes Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich in a statement released today.

“Yesterday’s shooting in Afghanistan which left at least 16 civilians dead is a tipping point,” continues Kucinich, “This shooting follows days of deadly rioting after it was revealed that U.S. troops had incinerated copies of the Koran. Despite more than a decade at war and nearly $600 billion of U.S. tax-payer dollars, it is obvious that the U.S. presence in Afghanistan has created instability in that country, not stability.”

Here we go. Yet another voice confirming the war in Afghanistan has failed.

Really, it was doomed from the get-go. Democracy cannot be installed by outside forces, lasting peace will never be found through violence, and the only thing a foreign military usually liberates is the people’s natural resources.

Let us learn from our mistakes and be sure not to repeat them. We have no room for war in our world, nor do we have the need.

Tuesday the POTUS criticized anti-Iran rhetoric coming from the Republican front runners, saying “When I see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, I’m reminded of the costs involved.”

“Typically it’s not the folks who are popping off who pay the price,” Obama said, adding, “it’s these incredible men and women in uniform and their families who pay the price.”

The world is improving faster than ever before, speeding us all towards a brighter future. Yet, for us to go from here to there, enough of us will have to abandon certain perspectives and internalize new ones. That being said, here’s 3 key scripts that need to be flipped: (more…)